Wednesday, 31 October 2012

It’s time to rethink the way we do power in our offices and homes.
Time and time again we see how business and private homes is hit by
flooding. And what is the problem. All electricity start at ground level or
below. Due to the unsigthliness of overhead
power lines all such feeds are now buried under ground. Then just inside there is a power meter and
then the main fuseboard, And circuits spread out from there. But with flooding this is a very vulnerable
layout. Even a foot of water can be an
issue if these things are in a cellar, and electricity and water makes a lethal
combination as the recent floods on the East Coast of the US proofs.

In Ireland all houses have to have a water tank installed in
the attic to ensure a certain water pressure, and for a certain amount of emergency
supply if mains pressure fails. Your
power needs to be arranged in a similar manner.
The main lead needs to be brought fully insulated up to the top floor
and the main breakers placed there. Then
each floor need a main switch so they can each be isolated. That way you can still have safe power even
if the ground floor is flooded. Just
switch off that floor. This panel needs to be in a place high up
tough. You can’t stand in a foot of
water switching electricity. For extra
security you can also have automatic sensors that can switch off each floor as
required. Even better combine it with a
complete environment monitoring solution.
The hardware for a solution that measures temperature and have sensors
for power outages and flooding and notifies you remotely, can be bought from as
little as a few hundred.

If you have a ups and or generator it needs to be placed as high up as
possible. What about in or around the
lift room. Yes it will be a bit noisy
but think off that as the positive feedback that its working.

One generator is seldom enough to ensure absolute uninterrupted
power. Because of its mechanical nature and
unregular use it will be prone to not starting automatically when you need it
the most. Think of it as your nice
weather sports/convertible car that always have a flat battery the day the sun
shines. A good and periodic generator testing regime
will help, but If your office don’t have 24 hour onsite personnel that is trained
in how to start it in an emergency, you will need a backup. And with in an emergency I mean the maybe 10
minutes you have before your ups runs out of batteries.

There is ways of connecting power to make 2 generators cross-feed
the same grid, together or one or the other. It’s complicated and your average electrician
is not to eager about it, but it can be done even a reasonable cost.

Very few companies goes this far unless they have
experienced first-hand what a unscheduled power outage can do to today’s
vulnerable systems. Think of however
that with more abnormal weather patterns any place could experience a flash
flooding, and have you investigated every part of the way electricity take from
its place of production to your building.
You wouldn’t want any of those transformers to go off with a bang
leaving you in darkness for what could be days.